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®1’* ^Jortlanh dObscrucr
July 20. 2011
Bullying Prevention 101
Kids given tools to live safe, healthy
M indy C cxiper
T he P ortland O bserver
by
In an effort to tackle bullying in
schools, a local martial arts school is
offering free bully awareness pre­
vention trainings to ensure kids have
the tools to live safe and healthy
lives.
For over 25-years, the martial arts
center One With Heart has provided
self-defense trainings to women and
children in the Portland area, includ­
ing an Indonesian style of martial
arts called Poekoelan Tjimindie
Tulen.
In an effort, however, to reach
every age of the community, the
center is offering a two-hour work­
shop designed for children ages 7 -
10 years old to raise awareness about
bullying and train youth with prac­
tical skills to handle unwanted be­
havior.
The class, “No Go Yell Tell Bully
Awareness and Prevention,” is
geared specifically to handling situ­
ations with bullies, said Katherine
White, One With Heart’s self-de­
fense program coordinator.
She said the training is offered
free of charge because of the center’s
commitment to making sure all chil­
Tabe the
W7
Tabe
dren have the tools they need to live
safe and strong healthy lives.
For the past several years, bully­
ing in schools has been getting in­
creased national attention due to
the rising number of kids through­
out the country falling victim to the
many forms bullying can take.
According to the Oregon Depart­
ment of Education, a safe and civil
environment is necessary for stu­
dents to learn and achieve high aca­
demic standards, and harassment,
intimidation or bullying and cyber-
bullying, like other disruptive or vio­
lent behavior, are conduct that dis­
rupts a student’s ability to learn and
a school’s ability to educate its stu-
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dents in a safe environment.
trainings to learn side-by-side with
The pain of bullying can be in­ their children.
flicted through various methods, in­
“When parents come to training
cluding online (cyber bully ing) or via they leave with more confidence on
texting, over the phone and face to how to talk to their kids and help
face.
them,” she said. “They will l^ve this
According to White, bullying in experience together.”
schools is one of the biggest chal­
Parents will also be given informa­
lenges kids face today.
tion and tools to support their chil­
“I think bullying is clearly an on­ dren in responding to any unwanted
going problem,” she said. “Statistics behavior.
say 160,000kids everyday stay home
“We are all in this together in
from school because they don’t feel raising children,” she said. “The
safe, and the long term impact is adults in their lives need to work
huge.”
together to guide and show kids we
Although there is not one stand are all coming together to support
alone affect, the pain can be emo­ them.”
tional, mental, and physical as a result
Through storytelling and role
of age, class or income status, dis­ plays, kids who attend the session
ability, ethnicity, gender, height, race, learn age-appropriate skills for set­
sexual orientation or weight.
ting boundaries and keeping them­
White said because a lot of bully­ selves safe.
ing with kids isn’t always meant to be
“We think by raising awareness
hurtful, the center’s training is acom- and developing skills, kids, when
bination of teaching skills and being faced with bullying, can create a posi­
very clear about understanding how tive outcome for everyone,” said
to use body language and voice to White.
set boundaries.
White said they plan to hold a
She said creating empathy in the workshop one to two times a month,
process is extremely important, so alternating between their two loca­
you can learn to respect others tions, including a center in both south­
boundaries in addition to your own. east Portland and St. Johns.
“We teach it is important to under­
The next session will be held this
stand when it is appropriate to use a Saturday, July 23, from 2 to4 p.m. at
physical defense in combination with the One With Heart center located at
creating empathy so you can also be 4231 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd. The St.
able to hear and see when what you ’ re Johns class will be held on Aug 20.
doing isn’t okay with someone else.”
Pre-Registration is required by
White said parents are encour­ calling 503-231 -1999 or visiting the
aged to participate in the interactive website onewithheart.com.